The latest intergenerational style war has erupted on TikTok, with Gen Z users mocking Millennial fashion staples such as skinny jeans and side-parted hair. Videos from @julia3elle and @amelie_coleman_ declaring they would rather be homeless than wear skinny jeans, alongside @missladygleep's claim that no one looks better with a side part, have ignited a fierce online debate. Millennials have reacted with a mix of sass and spite, but the dispute is less about the clothes themselves and more about a shift in generational power, according to Jason Dorsey of the Center for Generational Kinetics.
Style has always been a battleground between generations. In the Progressive Era of the 1890s-1920s, 'New Women' and 'Gibson Girls' embraced independence with S-shaped corsets and pompadour hairdos, shocking their Victorian elders. They were later supplanted by the flappers of the Roaring '20s, who popularised bobbed hair and androgynous silhouettes, provoking outrage from previous generations who saw them as promiscuous. Jessica Glasscock, a professor at Parsons School of Design, notes that the bob was 'a defiant rejection of the idea that a woman's hair is her crowning glory'.
In the 1940s, Christian Dior's 'New Look'—with its sculptural jacket and voluminous skirt—was deemed wasteful by those who had lived through wartime rationing. Fashion historian Monica Sklar explains that this 'revolt' reflected changing supply chains and societal goals, mirroring the baby boom and suburban ideals of the 1950s. Later, the miniskirt, popularised by Mary Quant in the 1960s, became a symbol of youthful rebellion against conservative dress codes.
These historical spats show that fashion is 'a story of youth culture', as Glasscock puts it. Each generation uses style to establish its identity and mark a transfer of power. The current TikTok war is just the latest chapter in a long tradition of sartorial rivalry, proving that while the platform may be new, the impulse to define oneself against the previous generation is timeless.
